Henry Czerny

Early life and education

Czerny was born on 8 February 1959 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the youngest of three children to Polish-Canadian parents. The word "czerny" means "black" in Polish. His father worked as a welder, and his mother, who still resides in Toronto, worked in a bakery.

Czerny attended college at York University

Acting career

Czerny received formal training at the National Theatre School in Montreal. After graduating in 1982, he went on to perform onstage across Canada, from Ottawa's National Arts Centre to Edmonton's Citadel Theatre and the Stratford Festival. By the late 1980s, he had established himself as a seasoned veteran of Canadian theatre—a long way from Lucky Larry, his first role. Czerny got his start acting in musicals at Humberside Collegiate Institute in Toronto, under the direction of Janet Keele. Czerny is friends with Dana Delany and played the role of her husband on the film, Choices of the Heart: The Margaret Sanger Story and her brother in the made-for-television movie, For Hope.

He had prominent roles in The Boys of St. Vincent, Mission: Impossible, Clear and Present Danger, The Ice Storm and The Michelle Apartments. In the 2006 comedy The Pink Panther, he plays the main antagonist "Yuri the Trainer who Trains". He plays Lieutenant Brooks in "Jackpot", a 2005 episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. In Conversations with God, about the true story of Neale Donald Walsch, Czerny plays Walsch. In 2007, Czerny appeared in the Showtime series The Tudors, playing the Duke of Norfolk. Czerny also appeared in the Canadian television show Flashpoint in 2008 and the American science fiction drama Falling Skies in 2011. Czerny co-starred with Sigourney Weaver in the 2009 Lifetime movie Prayers for Bobby.

In 2011, Czerny was cast opposite Madeleine Stowe, as the powerful patriarch Conrad Grayson, a series regular role, in ABC soap-type series Revenge. His character was stabbed at the end of season 3 and in the first episode of the fourth season it was revealed he had died. He later returned to the series in unseen flashback sequences in one season 4 episode. In 2016, Czerny was cast in the ABC thriller series Quantico for the recurring role of CIA director Matthew Keyes.

Personal life

Czerny is married to Claudine Cassidy and they have a son, Cameron. Before his marriage, he once dated Dana Delany, with whom he had worked on films.

Besides acting, his interests include photography, travel, crafting, and carpentry.